Psyckosama
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Origin story time.
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Youngest Child of a Cadet branch of the caldrons, Jack Calderon has spent more time avoiding attention that trying to figure out what to do in life. His branch of the family was never major or expecting to get into power, and has mainly just run the small starport in a large town on samantha. Hes done plenty of work at the starport and has learned the family trade of keeping it up and servicing dropships however it holds no appeal to him and was planning to not come back after his TDF service. Recently hes been recovered for a accident from doing said work with his family breaking several bones that left him stuck in bed for a while.
Youngest Child of a Cadet branch of the caldrons, Jack Calderon has spent more time avoiding attention that trying to figure out what to do in life. His branch of the family was never major or expecting to get into power, and has mainly just run the small starport in a large town on samantha. Hes done plenty of work at the starport and has learned the family trade of keeping it up and servicing dropships however it holds no appeal to him and was planning to not come back after his TDF service. Recently hes been recovered for a accident from doing said work with his family breaking several bones that left him stuck in bed for a while.
It's been two months since the death of your entire family. Two months where your entire world was thrown into chaos. The irony is you were saved only by a traffic accident. A bottleneck that prevented you from reacting the reunion on time, but left you close enough to see that dropship falling from the air and exploding in a fireball that shattered the windows of your car and left you in the hospital for two weeks from the power of the shockwave.
And then it was wills and funerals, public appearances, and now, today, you have been officially recognized as the Protector.
Last year, you had to fly your dropship. This year, the entire Concordant.
Settling behind the rather impressive desk of her official office Sam grimaced slightly, stuck behind a desk already and facing a mountains worth of paperwork. Worse the odds of her ever getting to pilot a Leopard in a high G slalom through the Hell's Hearts is damned minimal now, literally a snowballs chance in hell.
"Gabrielle set an appointment with Aramis Dunn and the leadership of the Trade and Colonization Ministry," Sam spoke softly through the intercom. "At my convenience not theirs."
"Also cut an invitation to the Bowie Industries management on Dicallus for a meeting on additional investment and business opportunities. Additional meetings needed to be booked with Taurus Territorial Industries, primarily about the costs involved in restoring their Wolverine lines (as per FR 2765), and Vandenberg Mechanized Industries on possible new designs."
With that Sam turned to reading a report covering the remains of the last Warship builder in the TC, hoping for some insight into what was actually left.
Unfortunately while you're protector, you legally can't take authority until you're 18, but due to your age, you are permitted to have a say in choosing your regent.
Add that then I'll reply.
Settling behind the rather impressive desk of her official office Sam grimaced slightly, stuck behind a desk already and facing a mountains worth of paperwork. Worse the odds of her ever getting to pilot a Leopard in a high G slalom through the Hell's Hearts is damned minimal now, literally a snowballs chance in hell.
"Gabrielle set an appointment with Aramis Dunn and the leadership of the Trade and Colonization Ministry," Sam spoke softly through the intercom. "At my convenience not theirs."
"Also cut an invitation to the Bowie Industries management on Dicallus for a meeting on additional investment and business opportunities.
Additional meetings needed to be booked with Taurus Territorial Industries, primarily about the costs involved in restoring their Wolverine lines (as per FR 2765),
and Vandenberg Mechanized Industries on possible new designs."
With that Sam turned to reading a report covering the remains of the last Warship builder in the TC, hoping for some insight into what was actually left.
teenagers pov isnt always the most accurate....Alright. Said "small town" was actually a city of 1,000,000 and host one of the major local planetary space ports. Your family are high nobility, they don't fix dropships for a living, even if they do happen to own the largest dropship matniance faculty on Samantha. At least not personally. At least not normally. You were given that job by your father as away of learning character. It's something of a tradition.
Fraking dropships........ when i learn of whats going on ill ask if they think if it was a accident or not.Anyways, you suffered a nasty slip and fall that ended with you falling off a gantry onto a concrete floor. Your father was furious. You were left in traction for three months. Half of which was spent soaking in the knowledge that you only narrowly survived falling off that dropship and because of it only narrowly survived getting a dropship fall on you.
Enough to make a man hate dropships.
lovely.... i suppose ill need a regent for a few months atleast, and ill need to deal with the briefing by the staff.Anyways, you've just been deemed fit to take what is yours: The Protectorship.
Well, Trade and Colonization is at your beckon call. Mr Dunn is on a speaking tour and is both a private citizen and a very old man who's seen as a kindly grandpa by many..
But he does agree to meet you as soon as he is reasonably able. A good number of people pay a good deal of money to hear him speak, some traveling from out system to do it, and he'd hate to disappoint them by canceling at last minute's notice.
Basically you'll be seeing him next month... and that's with him hitching rides on military dropships.
James Bowie, the head VP and heir to the ownership of the company (and noble heir to the planet) will be with you personally in 2 weeks.
You'd wonder why they were sending someone that important rather than just having the local rep speak to you, but according to reports he's 25, noted to be attractive, and is currently single.
Hmmm... I wonder what their angle is...
Several hundred million and a the tooling for a number of missing parts.
Getting the money in the budget is hard, getting the tooling would mean either getting access to an original set (and duplicating it) which would be expensive as hell and politically difficult, or of course outright theft...
Sam may own them but it doesn't mean that her protective detail wouldn't sit on her the moment she suggested taking one on a high speed thrill ride through asteroid fields.
Sadly however that means Monsieur Dunn will be missing out on a vitally important bit of news in the meeting with Trade and Colonization. Effective end of business year 3025 the generous tax cuts for colonization are being massively clawed back alongside with a full stop on funding new colony worlds as of right now.
As Sam expects screams of outrage she'll have a briefing note that covers some basic material:
The recent expansion has pushed the TC's Jumpship logistics extremely hard, both on the military and civil side of things. Funding needs to be poured into rebuilding the TC's ability to repair, replace and build new jumpships and dropships to expand the Jumpship fleet of both the Merchant Marine and Navy.
Tax breaks for orbital infrastructure, parts factories and building a new series of Yards will be getting the priority for funding, which will include new orbital colonies to house workers. Additional funding support will be going towards rebuilding the TCs ability to build Industrial Mechs.
A target date of 3050 is set to have the new Jumpships pumping out of the yards, and with it a new wave of colonization. The Ministry of Trade and Colonization is to start developing plans to target both under populated worlds within the TC and uninhabited worlds outside of its borders with 1 million colonist waves.
In any case just so Mr Vanderzham is prepared Sam has word passed on to the local reps that the subject of the day will be focused around Industrial Mechs and Jumpships and expanding the TC's ability to produce both.
Money is as always an issue, as for tooling. Sam is perfectly willing to work hard on the political difficulties of dealing with say Kallon Industries, a primarily FWL company, to start with. "I'm here to help, is the phrase"
"Or would TTI prefer to focus on pumping money and energy into greatly expanding its ability to produce Industrial Mechs and Cargo Dropships?"
"Apart from an emphasis on expanding the TC's ability to manufacture Industrial Mechs, I would like VMI to produce an initial estimate on the time and cost it would cost to restart production of the Talos as a visible symbol of Taurian pride?"
Jack Calderon 3011
teenagers pov isnt always the most accurate....
Fraking dropships........ when i learn of whats going on ill ask if they think if it was a accident or not.
lovely.... i suppose ill need a regent for a few months atleast, and ill need to deal with the briefing by the staff.
whats going on of note in the IS and concordat right now? Anything major, or should i worry more about healing and learning my new job?
also on a whim now that i can ask for records and reports on the far lookers and there efforts. I recall dad always complaining about them and id like to see why.
which ironically would be a easy enough bit to ensure fails, so look well.Too true.
It's under investigation. But all signs point to... well... a failed o-ring in one of the main fusion thrusters. Basically... a matniance issue.
if my vote counts look for a economist. also no crazy people prone to ranting on any subject even davions and laios please.
send a letter back thanking him and admit it looks to be chance more than design.You hate the Federated Suns. Some raids back and forth as per usual though you did get a very polite letter from Hanse Davion. Personally written too. He knows what it's like to lose loved ones. He was devastated when he lost his brother, and he personally assures you that he had nothing to do with it and actually has assigned MI6 to discover whom, if anyone, did.
ill accept that info and none the less it is a favor. jack will note that and in the future maybe repay it if he can.He admits it's not intended as a favor. Anyone who could pull off such an operation would be a threat to you all. But... he will forward you the report minus any points considered sensitive to his nations national security.
bang head at the sheer stupid methods and planing they are using. see if i can get some of them to talk to and see if im just not reading the paper work right or if they have all need to be beat with a cluebat.
Or at least wait until she has a few heirs who can take over.They can politely... and strongly suggest she do otherwise. Then make sure her copilot is the best in the Concordant.
You sure you just don't want to wait a month? And frankly having Colony Grandpa there would be a good idea to keep the screaming to a low ebb.
You're really going to want to talk to Mr. Dunn before announcing this if only to keep him and his from going completely off the shitter.
Mix up there. Thought they were Taurians. So no noble lord... but they're still sending Young Master Vanderzham (RETCON!). They're actually paying to have him on an expedited circuit. Basically the fastest you can get without a full on command circuit. Basically it normally involves timing the trip and route to basically hop between jumpships in a way that minimizes the trips time. Normally to pull this off, they use a converted Hopperwith the cargo bay modified to be a VIP transport rather than a dropship.
You're looking at maybe 3 weeks for him to get from the Commonwealth... which you have to admit is pretty damned fast.
Several of his ships seem to be rides on Federated Suns MILITARY transports.
The man looks for a moment then smiles. It's shark like. "Would you mind a humble suggestion?"
As much as it saddens him to say, they no longer have the specs. Unless they can find a working model and reverse engineer it, which will be expensive, it's not a realistic option.
Samantha Calderon Feb 3025
Or at least wait until she has a few heirs who can take over.
Waiting a month until Mr Dunn arrives has been reconsidered, considered it pushed back until March
In the meantime a major stump speech is being prepared and politicians who favor interstellar trade and industrial development are being called in for chats (and plotting) over coffee and tea over what measures to take to really focus the TC on getting ready for a more open trade system and serious industrial development.
Figures in the "Davions are Invading!" camp and also the more heavy exploration and colonization crowd are invited over for chats heavy on the booze (while Sam drinks as little booze as possible) that focus on implanting the idea of the need for more Jumpships.
Stump speech is going to have one major message "Taurians are mastering Outer Space once more" with a heavy focus on new jumpships and orbital platforms such as Snowden Mining Stations. Its designed to put a positive spin on switching the governments focus towards orbital technology.
Shockingly impressive, why one might assume that he's carrying a personal message from Katherine Steiner. Orders are cut that TCN ships are to help assist Master Vanderzham's travel without creating disruptions to operations or major disruptions to schedules, or at the very least deal with any red tape.
"As long as it doesn't involve spending a significant fraction of the Calderon liquid assests" Sam fires back holding back a grin. "I'm quite happy to listen to suggestions."
Assuming the TC suddenly finds itself flush with cash yes. Until then jumpers, dropships, and other industrial investments first. They make more money.
"A true shame. Well we do have one Toro still floating around." Sam replies with a bit of disappointment.
"Still in any case the Concordat is moving to focus on expanding its industrial and orbital manufacturing. For military equipment however beyond political support to acquire licenses, perhaps designs such as the Black Knight that also uses the Vlar 300, additional monies will be slightly difficult to muster."
~A note will be passed that Kong Interstellar produces Farming Mechs and is the designer of the Black Knight and Ostsol which both use the Vlar 300, an engine VMI produces.
A personally written reply is sent to Hanse politely thanking him for his kind words and efforts to determine if anyone caused it. Apart from the infallible hatred of the Universe to the Concordat whenever it seems to be getting strong, sheer misfortune, or an Act of Comstar is the third most likely culprit (blasted Terrans).
Accompanying the thank you note is another hand written letter outlining the new position Sam is setting forth, the Concordat is moving towards a more liberalized trade and custom systems focused on ensuring the TC is open for business. Of course the TC will respond in force to any actual invasion attempt, but has no desire to pursue hostilities with the Federated Suns. A series of cyphers is included for one time pad messages.
Message is to be hand carried in a sealed self destruct case by a trusted agent all the way to New Avalon. No body is getting to even glimpse at the letter until it arrives into the care of Quintis Allard. Comstar is not get near this message at all.
which ironically would be a easy enough bit to ensure fails, so look well.
if my vote counts look for a economist. also no crazy people prone to ranting on any subject even davions and laios please.
send a letter back thanking him and admit it looks to be chance more than design.
ill accept that info and none the less it is a favor. jack will note that and in the future maybe repay it if he can.
bang head at the sheer stupid methods and planing they are using. see if i can get some of them to talk to and see if im just not reading the paper work right or if they have all need to be beat with a cluebat.
the senior staff and council why the hell we havent started making toros and talos again? even if using primitive tech it cant be that hard can it?
In the interim, Kaede takes refuge in a toilet stall and calls her grandparents to tell them what's happened and ask them to call the police if she doesn't call again within 24 hours.The tech shakes his head. "N-no ma'am!"
About 10 minutes later she's taken to the roof where a Karnov in Comstar colors is waiting.
Kaede Kanzaki-Calderon (23), 3011
In the interim, Kaede takes refuge in a toilet stall and calls her grandparents to tell them what's happened and ask them to call the police if she doesn't call again within 24 hours.
Then she washes her face, goes to meet the adept and boards the Karnov.
Well, they're a little freaking out and she gets a rather awkward ride with some very quiet, very scary men.
Then they land on a military base.
The door opens... and she finds what must be an company of infantry waiting for her. At attention.
The commander of the base, a full colonel walks out and salutes her. "Ma'am. We're going to have to independent confirm the test that Comstar oversaw. If it vets... well..." he pauses. "The Concordant needs you, ma'am."
"There is a strong push for Grover Shraplen to be elected Protector and he's already sworn vengeance upon Hanse Davion and the Federated Suns. Other quarters would like to see that possibility avoided at all cost."
Anyway, regarding the rest of my now large inheritance what do i have?
talk to him about the tdf, and learn what it has, needs and would like to have. also enquire about command circuits and such in the tc, and the status of our jumpship fleet.You're given a general. Current head of the military. He's basically keeping the seat warm.
indeed, i dont think ill be riding in droppers for awhile.
use said bat with great vigor, world and resource scouting is fine, trying to settle every rock is stupid. get them to stop that till the current batch of minor worlds can atleast mostly support themselves. in the mean time why dont they check old worlds, they may have recovered or people could be picked up to help new colonies, or if were really lucky a cach of something.
Oh come on, ive seen roms of pirates with passable frankenmechs that could a toro, are the concordays heavy industries going to say they cant do something pirates can? theirs ways around these issues why arent they being used?
ask the general what he honestly thinks is the biggest threat to the concordat, the davions, or laios and does he think a large scale pirate clearing mission can be assembled without endangering the concordat. itll also be a good time to test our larger unit tactics with live fire.
Kaede Kanzaki-Calderon (23), 3011
"Thank you, Colonel." Kaede returns the salute carefully and then lowers her voice. "(All things considered, I'd not be disappointed if this turns out to be a mistake, but if it isn't, just what sort of mess am I... inheriting?)."
Alejandro Diaz-Calderon, 19 years old, 3031 A.D.
"Grover Shraplen, Him, the only man more paranoid about the Fed Suns then Thomas. And he want's to go to war with the strongest nation in the Sphere. Does he even realize-!? Alright, alright fine. I don't know if I'm going to be able to pull this off, but I'm in. What do I have to do to stop this?"
Resolving himself, Alejandro looks to Lady Jones and Colonel Sterling, this was his duty to his country, simple as that. He will not let some madman drag his country into a war it can't win.
Jack Calderon
Anyway, regarding the rest of my now large inheritance what do i have?
talk to him about the tdf, and learn what it has, needs and would like to have. also enquire about command circuits and such in the tc, and the status of our jumpship fleet.
Also on a related note, why the hell havent we rebuilt yards? we use to have a fleet before the ruw only the th surpassed.
use said bat with great vigor, world and resource scouting is fine, trying to settle every rock is stupid. get them to stop that till the current batch of minor worlds can atleast mostly support themselves. in the mean time why dont they check old worlds, they may have recovered or people could be picked up to help new colonies, or if were really lucky a cach of something.
Oh come on, ive seen roms of pirates with passable frankenmechs that could a toro, are the concordays heavy industries going to say they cant do something pirates can? theirs ways around these issues why arent they being used?
ask the general what he honestly thinks is the biggest threat to the concordat, the davions, or laios and does he think a large scale pirate clearing mission can be assembled without endangering the concordat. itll also be a good time to test our larger unit tactics with live fire.
With a grim smile, Alejandro stands up."Claim your birthright. Tell him and the other extremist factions to sit down and shut up."
"Unbelievable." Kaede shakes her head. "Alright, let's get this test done. And then unless it excuses me from the madhouse, I suppose I'll need transport to the capital. I suppose learning to keep a classroom full of bored teenagers focused might help in dealing with this mess.""We're on the brink of War, civil and otherwise." he says without hesitation, "There are several distantly related nobles with equally dubious claims on the protectorship jockying for recognition. There are several factions laying blame for the deaths of the house on either the Capallans or the Federated Suns, and who are demanding bloody retribution. There are a number of worlds threatening outright succession if people who disagree with them get the Protectorship. What we need is someone with an undeniable legal claim who is a political neutral. Like, say, a royal bastard who had she been discovered while the others were still alive would have been 7th in line for the throne after the Protector's own children and her father and has a claim so rock solid it could stop an AC20."
hmmm, interesting. talk to the head of the econ about the concordats interstallar banking and credit as i recall it being in poor shape from what my father complained about. does he thing using a good fraction of the money to set up a bank and for loans would be a good idea?
hmm noted, anyway we can increase it short and medium term(long term i plan to have yards making jumpers)?Your jumpship fleet is actually well above (periphery) average for the size of the state, though most of it is privately owned.
well it seems i happen to have billion now, any other excuses or can they get to trying?
withholding of government funds and support would be a start, and given the shape reports say some of the new colonies are in, legal action could also be possible.Fair enough.
You'll want to wait until you're more settled in the protectorship. And how do you want to apply said bat?
ether works as it shows where making something ourselves that isnt a old SL era or sphere rat design. i think i heard some guys at the dropship port talking about a new mech(the merlin) in the owa, we should be able to do the same or better.You want a Toro or you want something that looks like a Toro when you squint real hard?
well the latter isnt hard, laios are laios, and mad max is easy to hate. reviews of intel on his will likely both jack quite a bit. Ian is just a standard davion, and as such easy to predict.Of the two? If you can placate Ian Davion somewhat and somehow play up a common dislike the Capallans with George Hasek, then he'd to with Liao.
How about the badlands cluster group, we should have old maps(RUW era) of it and we know where some of its resources are already.
With a grim smile, Alejandro stands up.
"Well then, ladies, gentleman. I suppose I should I get started. Let's go tell a bunch of mad old men to sit down and shut up."
"Unbelievable." Kaede shakes her head. "Alright, let's get this test done. And then unless it excuses me from the madhouse, I suppose I'll need transport to the capital. I suppose learning to keep a classroom full of bored teenagers focused might help in dealing with this mess."
Jack Calderon
hmmm, interesting. talk to the head of the econ about the concordats interstallar banking and credit as i recall it being in poor shape from what my father complained about. does he thing using a good fraction of the money to set up a bank and for loans would be a good idea?
hmm noted, anyway we can increase it short and medium term(long term i plan to have yards making jumpers)?
well it seems i happen to have billion now, any other excuses or can they get to trying?
withholding of government funds and support would be a start, and given the shape reports say some of the new colonies are in, legal action could also be possible.
ether works as it shows where making something ourselves that isnt a old SL era or sphere rat design. i think i heard some guys at the dropship port talking about a new mech(the merlin) in the owa, we should be able to do the same or better.
well the latter isnt hard, laios are laios, and mad max is easy to hate. reviews of intel on his will likely both jack quite a bit. Ian is just a standard davion, and as such easy to predict.
How about the badlands cluster group, we should have old maps(RUW era) of it and we know where some of its resources are already.
"I think you can be excuse from the classroom for now, ma'am. Though being able to keep a room of spoiled screaming children in line will aid you well in court politics."
He personally escorts you to the medbay where another battery of bloodtest is done.
And it comes out with the same result.
"Well, Lady Kaede," he says after a moment of thought. "Now time for the hard part. We need to get you to Samantha as quickly as possible."
RUW is the usual shorthand for the Reunification War
Kaede Kanzaki-Calderon (23), 3011
Kaede calls her school and apologises that she's going to have to not only miss the next few weeks but actually resign immediately. If they want explanations she'll hand them over to the Colonel and let him deal with it.
"So. Interstellar travel isn't something I've done before so that's going to be a new experience. I take it that dropships near the capital are being treated carefully at the moment?"
She'll go along with whatever travel arrangements are made.
You get a couple biters with this. Mostly the owners of the larger industrial interests.
Get get Grover Shraplen, one of the late protector's favorates and newly minted lord of McLoed's Land to all but propose to you.
He arrives on time. He's a dashing and attractive young Lyran. And he's extremely Lyran in his manner.
"Considering the entirety of the House Calderon liquid assets down to the personal fortunes of every member now rest in your pocketbook, you're probably wealthier than Katrina Steiner. But I digress. Talk to the Snakes. Don't give them the right to commit to anything, but send someone who is anti-Davion. Paint a picture that a strong concordant would be a throne in the Federated Suns' side. Even if its bold faced bullshit they'll probably go for it."
"To be honest, we need an assault more than we do another heavy."
Right.
Done. So it'll take some time to get there.
Any higher level of info in there?
"And you stating it's a matter of national security is much more convincing than I would be. Remember, she 'knows' that I'm a junior teacher who really wouldn't be making that determination. Short of the truth I'd have had trouble explaining it... which may not matter in the long run, but reputation matters in politics or so I'm told."The Principle is calmly informed that she's currently indisposed due to issues of national security that he is not at liberty to discuss.
After he hangs up he looks over.
"Until your cute little bottom is seated upon the throne and you are confirmed as the ruling Lady Calderon it's best to keep this close to the chest. I've already had the med-techs at the hospital sent a rather intense NDA that ends in a rather frank 'or I shoot you' for just that reason."
I get staff to start polling the medium and small industrial interests, the goal is get all of the TC moving onwards and upwards not just the biggest companies getting bigger.
More specifically is the major issue the available investment capital?
While politely turned down Sam carefully sounds out Grover on a) What he thinks of the Liaos, Kurita's, and Mariks b) How opposed he would be to go visit the various Concord of Kapteyn powers?
Additionally Sam has her staff look for any major Lords who want the Liao's crucified, burnt and generally rendered into dust.
"Monsiuer Vanderzham you have my thanks for no doubt arduous journey, you've positively dashed across the Inner Sphere to be here at my side." Sam replies with some interest in taking in the experience of young Lyran.
"Do call me Sam, I've far too many people being all formal. Reminds me far too much of reprimands for pushing my ride beyond the normal operating procedures. Leopards can pull 3gs easily, but no going beyond 1g except in combat."
"As for Bowie industries the Concordat is going to be pushing a major program of industrial expansion based with the long term goal of starting new production of Jumpships.
I'm interested in your thoughts as to how Bowie Industries can be a part of this or if any other Lyran companies would be interested on coming aboard, with Bowie Industries taking a cut of course to introduce them to the realities of operating in the Concordat."
"As sadly most of those liquid assets are going to be plunged into setting up a proper Merchant Bank to ensure liquidity in the markets, an attempt to prime the pump if you will." Sam answers honestly. "Still that idea has merit. Considering the Kuritan's own budgets however.... at the worst I can always suggest Pinard Protectorates Limited do a tooling swap for the Sabre ASF for another design. At best, well there's all sorts of options opened up."
"If it comes down to it what would TTI be interested in if we sucker in the Snakes?" Sam inquired as she did own a decent chunk of the company. "The Scarborough Limited line of Hover craft have a solid reputation."
Sam does acknowledge this, however the TC is a net exporter of military equipment.
Increased military budgets will follow even if its humdrum ICE powered tanks for the most part. Additionally new ICE powered are more than possible given the difficulties and expenses in developing new fusion based designs.
Black Bessie should be a TR-A-6 model. "A real shame," Sam comments. "Because I'm fairly sure it would be relatively easy to raise funds voluntarily across the Concordat to get the Toro back into action. Paired with an alternate model equipped with say
SRMs in place of LRMs it would provide the Concordat a solid unit to build militia Mech units around."
"Assaults would be nice, but given Mech production in the TC is a spread of solid heavies in the form Marauders, Whammys, Archers and Thuds backed up with a single Griffin line and scads of Bug mechs." Sam answers honestly. "More mediums including the Shadow Hawk and Phoenix Hawk for fast movers and adding additional heavies would build a more balanced force. "
Suddenly a flash crosses Sam's face as an idea comes to her. "What does VMI think of the Highlander Assault mech? Apart from sharing the same engine from the Pixy, its developer Hollis Industries is pretty much a holding company at the moment. If the TC acquires the license and tooling for the Phoenix Hawk and several lines of the GM 270 are built it wouldn't be that difficult to divert some production to Highlanders."
Yes Sam does. She's taking the best measures possible to ensure that the only people who even get a glimpse of the letter are her and Hanses most trusted staff. Its also a calculated measure that stresses Sam's version of the typical Calderon paranoia isn't focused on the Davions but instead on Terrans and its rulers Comstar. Her namesake left to avoid the Terran Alliances empire building, Terrans in the form of Camerons launched the Star League, Terrans in the form Aramis (TH citizen) and Kerensky led the forces in the Star League Civil War. Plus they read the mail, and worship Blake as a mythical figure when Sam can read Nicolettes cutting remarks about the man in her own diary.
Nothing beyond a short brief on the highlights which can be boiled to:
* TC's drastically reducing import/export customs, other such fees and paperwork involved: Goal is to make trade freer and faster for everybody
* Restrictions on sale of military equipment are being substantially reduced, only major no sale target will be States actively engaged in hostilities and Pirates.
* Foreign Ownership and or Investment is being welcomed with several caveats about environmental protection and removal of heavy industrial tooling out of the TC (Copies can be made but no buying up and removing say a mech line)
*TCs neutral position to both the Concord of Kapteyn and Fed Com.
On that note
Search Results into remains of the TCs sole warship manufacture (Rolled a 1 as requested)
Of the now consolidated Calderon fortune a short highlight on the major assets would be lovely. Also of the liquid assets Samantha is pooling the vast majority into setting up an major Merchant Bank to provide loans to develop the TC's industries.
TDF is draft up a plan for a deployment that focuses much more heavily on Anti Pirate actions instead of focusing on both the Cap Con and Fed Suns.
Taurus Majoris Mining and Magna Metals Inc are invited to meetings with the Protector.
Kaede Kanzaki-Calderon (23), 3011
"And you stating it's a matter of national security is much more convincing than I would be. Remember, she 'knows' that I'm a junior teacher who really wouldn't be making that determination. Short of the truth I'd have had trouble explaining it... which may not matter in the long run, but reputation matters in politics or so I'm told."
"And Colonel? That's enough of the sexual harassment. More than enough. Don't make me give you detention."
"So. Interstellar travel isn't something I've done before so that's going to be a new experience. I take it that dropships near the capital are being treated carefully at the moment?"
She'll go along with whatever travel arrangements are made.